HUNTINGTON — With the 1990 and 1995 state championship teams looking on, the Huntington North girls' basketball team was given a little extra motivation to end its four-game skid Friday against Homestead. For nearly 30 minutes, the Vikings played inspired basketball, but a three-minute breakdown allowed the Spartans to crash the party.
Leading by eight as the third quarter wound down, Huntington North committed six turnovers on its next seven possessions and the Spartans capitalized to take an eight-point lead before holding off a late rally to beat the Lady Vikings 54-51.
“This game, I felt like we played all but three minutes of it and that three minutes cost us,” Huntington North coach Kelly Jones said. “If we start eliminating those mistakes, I think things will definitely turn around for us.”
Now 0-5, four of the Vikes' losses have come by a combined 12 points.
Huntington North led 41-33 with 1:08 to go in the third quarter. From that point, Homestead went on a 16-0 run to take a 49-41 lead.
Huntington North fought back, however, to pull within one at 52-51 with 57 seconds to play.
Two free throws by Jena Hamrick gave Homestead a 54-51 lead and they hung on from there.
Huntington North had one final attempt to tie the game but Leisl Davenport missed a three-point attempt with four seconds to play.
“I'm really happy with the way we fought back,” Homestead coach Rod Parker said. “We knew coming down here is a tough place to play. Huntington's record doesn't show what they're capable of. We were sluggish at times, but fought through it and I'm proud of the girls getting the job done in the fourth quarter.”
Both teams finished with 13 turnovers in the game, but Homestead (5-0) took advantage of the mistakes, outscoring Huntington North 25-7 off those turnovers.
“That was critical,” Jones said. “We played a little tentative, but if we force a turnover, we have to take advantage of that situation. It's something that we weren't able to do tonight.”
Hamrick led Homestead with 23 points and found a way to penetrate Huntington North's interior to go 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
“Jena did really nice job,” Parker said. “She's our team leader and gets it done on both ends of the floor. I thought she really did a good job stepping up.”
